This may be of interest to you, your collaborators, and your fellow genealogists. Ireland is to have its first genetic genealogy conference! Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2013 is a 3-day series of lectures and presentations and is scheduled to run at Back to Our Past (BTOP) at the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) in Ballsbridge, Dublin from Oct 18-20. BTOP is the Irish equivalent of the Who Do You Think You Are event in London.

This is the third year of the Back to Our Past exhibition which last year attracted 20,000 visitors and over 250 exhibitors. This year FamilyTreeDNA have decided to have a stand at the exhibition and will be offering DNA testing at discounted prices. This is the first time that DNA testing will be offered directly to the Irish public at the exhibition.

FamilyTreeDNA have also offered to sponsor a series of lectures in a similar way to how they sponsor lectures at Who Do You Think You Are in London. These lectures are being organised under the auspices of ISOGG and details will be published on the dedicated Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2013 website. Several confirmed speakers already have their profiles on the website and more will be added in time. Speakers come from a broad range of disciplines and include professional genealogists, geneticists, scientists, historians, and DNA Project Administrators. The topics are diverse and will include many of particular interest to the Irish public, and indeed anyone with Irish ancestors, such as DNA projects related to the Irish Clans and individual Irish surnames.

Guess I should not have dropped out of ISOGG. Still, I wish FTDNA would find some way to provide advance notice of it activities abroad (or am I missing some publication?). The very Irish Byrne Project's co-admin Nic Burns currently is in Leinster collecting DNA samples.He took over two dozen kits, and I just shipped him an additional 25. I am flying over 2 October with another 25 kits--some for Leinster and others for the northwest, but I fly back on 15 October and will miss this long-overdue Irish DNA conference. Well, in the USMC they used to say that 10% never get the word!Paul

Hi Paul, sorry you're not going to be around for the GGI2013 conference but good luck with your sampling. How are you putting the word out? And are you just collecting samples from people named Byrne?Regards, Maurice

Maurice, We are working through existing members of our Byrne Leinster cluster (55 members) many of whom live in that area. We are preparing a booklet on DNA testing that will be distributed at small, regional conferences--in Carlow, Kilkenny, Wicklow, Wexford, and wherever we can get a few Byrne together. Project co-admin Nic Burns from Michigan is staying over there for several months to conduct these. For now we are testing only our own surname(s) since some of the kits are pre-paid, but we had planned to offer the remainder to other Leinster surnames, if any are interested and once we run out of Byrne candidates. But now I don't know. Our main Byrne reunion is 4-5 October, planned long before I heard about the ISOGG/FTDNA event at the Royal Dublin Horsegrounds later that same month. Perhaps this latter will take care of other surnames.

Congratulations on such a well-coordinated plan, Paul. If you do want to sponsor some Y-DNA-37 tests for specific surnames (Byrne or otherwise) at the Back to Our Past conference in Dublin, please let me know and I will pass your contact details on to Derrell who is organising this activity (my email is mauricegleeson [at] doctors.org.ukRegards, Maurice